InoShikaCho
by Schitzoid
Summary: What do you do when someone you've seen like a sibling all your life in a different light? 5 months after the Chuunin exam and everything begins to change... [Indefinate hiatus]
1. sigh: Women

Part 1-Women…

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?" This time the blonde leaned across the desk to flash her cleavage, as if it wasn't on display already. It was her tactic she used against guys when she didn't get what she wanted. He had almost fallen for it the first time but now he knew better

"No, stop asking."

"But…" She looked around. Suddenly her face lit up as though a light bulb had clicked on. She turned to look at him and pouted, she gave him the puppy eyes, which was really easy for her as she had big, blue eyes, "Please… Shika-kun…"

He stared at her in shock, "don't call me that."

"Why not?" She smiled at him sinisterly, "Shika-Shika"

"Ino! Don't call me that!" Normally he could see any attack coming but this was totally unexpected.

"I will… if you let me wear the jacket."

"Fine… geez, Ino, you're so annoying," he took off his jacket and handed it to her.

She put on the jacket and stood triumphantly, "Thanks Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru watched her run out of the room and slumped over the desk he was sitting at, "what a bother…"

From down the hall he could hear shouts and insults being thrown from one to the other. More than likely Ino had tricked Sakura in to thinking that she had become an honorary Chuunin. More shouts, even telling Naruto **and** Sasuke to shut up, which was unusual to say the least.

"Morning Shikamaru!" came a cheerful shout from the doorway.

Shikamaru turned his head to see who had just entered the room, "Hi Chouji…"

"What's going on down there?"

"Ino and that Sakura girl are fighting again…"

"Oh… want a chip?" Chouji tilted his packet as an invitation to Shikamaru.

"Chouji?"

"Yeah?"

"There's none left."

"Oh…" Chouji sat down at a desk behind Shikamaru.

"They've gone silent," Shikamaru stood up and looked at Chouji, "that can't be good." He raised an eyebrow as Ino ran into the room screaming and hid behind him.

"Shika-kun! Do something about her!" She pointed an accusing finger at Sakura who had followed her into the room and was standing with her hands on her hips.

"Ino, don't call me that, I already told you…"

"Fine, just do something about 'it'!" Ino carried on pointing at Sakura

"How tiresome…" he mentally scolded himself for getting involved in Ino's problems, "Sakura, what's going on?"

"Your girlfriend there was using her new Chuunin status, which has to be fake, to impress Sasuke-kun!"

"I never said I was a Chuunin! I just asked if he liked the jacket on me…" Ino shouted from behind Shikamaru

"…" Shikamaru put a hand on his forehead; he could feel a migraine coming, "firstly Sakura, she isn't my girlfriend-"

"Yeah!" Ino interrupted, "I'd never go out with Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru stared at Ino and then carried on with what he was saying, "and secondly, what goes on between you two and Sasuke is none of my concern." He walked back to where he was sitting before, next to Chouji.

Ino hung her head in disappointment, "thanks a lot Shikamaru."

"Just leave Sasuke-kun alone pig-chan!"

"Go away forehead."

"It's not like yours is small."

"Compared to yours it's tiny."

"Forehead-pig-chan has a nice ring to it." Sakura paused in thought

"…" Ino cocked her head, she gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. "**SA-KU-RRA…**" Her voice was intense and threatening without shouting, she rolled the r in Sakura's name and she cracked her knuckles, all tale-tale signs that Ino was about to do some serious damage.

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A/N-First chappie of this fic… The first 2 or 3 ain't gonna be that good to tell the truth, bear with me folks


	2. Teenage rivalry

Part 2-Teenage rivalry

"…" Ino cocked her head, she gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. "**SA-KU-RRA…**" Her voice was intense and threatening without shouting, she rolled the r in Sakura's name and she cracked her knuckles, all tale-tale signs that Ino was about to do some serious damage.

"Uh-oh…" Chouji and Shikamaru looked at each other in worry, "Ino's scary when she gets like this, you'd better do something Shikamaru."

"Why me?"

"We don't have enough time for rock, paper, scissors at the moment."

"This is so bothersome…" Shikamaru got up and walked over to Ino, he decided that, as amusing as it would be, he should do something before Ino punched out Sakura, "Sakura, go and play with your imaginary boyfriend or something…" Shikamaru tried to move Ino from where she was standing.

"…" Sakura opened her mouth to argue but nothing came out, instead she gave Shikamaru an angry glare and walked out of the room.

Shikamaru guided Ino back to a desk only to have her turn around and throw a punch at him, which he luckily managed to catch in his palm thanks to unusually fast reflexes, "Woah, Ino, what was that for?"

Ino stared at him and pulled her fist back, she handed him back his Chuunin jacket and simply glared at him, "What did you stop me for?"

"Well sorry, but as amusing as seeing you punch out Sakura would have been, I don't like the idea of being interrogated by Asuma and probably Kakashi as to what happened." He threw his jacket back on, "oh great, it smells like flowers…"

"Well sorry for smelling nice." Ino threw her feet up on the desk

"You know Ino, for a girl, you're not very ladylike." Chouji commented in between mouthfuls of potato chips that he had found in his bag

"Yeah, I bet I could be more 'ladylike' than you," Shikamaru sat down and crossed his legs, like he had seen Ino do when she was trying to impress Sasuke, "this is uncomfortable, how do you girls sit like this? Doesn't it hurt?" Shikamaru uncrossed his legs and found he had a cramp

"It's in the hips, and the posture," Ino demonstrated the 'proper' way to sit for them and winked, "it's a girl thing."

"I don't understand you girls…" Shikamaru sighed

"You're not meant too," their sensei walked in, cigarette in mouth, as usual

"Asuma-sensei!" Ino shouted, "I kicked your ass in shougi yesterday!"

"No, you didn't."

"Asuma, losing to me is a given, losing to Chouji is bad, but how could you lose to **her**?" He pointed at Ino, who gave him the 'glare of death', "She barely knows how to play Shougi."

"Thanks for your support Shikamaru," She said sarcastically, _great, one of the few times he can be bothered to insult someone properly and he insults everyone but himself…_

"I did not lose to Ino!" Asuma tried to keep calm, stress is not a good thing when you're trying to cut down on your smoking

"I totally kicked his ass." Ino whispered behind her hand

**"INO!"** Asuma shouted, "You guys need to perfect your InoShikaCho formation."

"Why? I secure them with my shadow bind, Ino gets them with her mind switch, runs them in front of Chouji who gets them with his meat tank just after she releases her jutsu." In reality Shikamaru knew their technique needed a lot of work but he couldn't be bothered with training, he couldn't even be bothered to use the right names for their jutsus

*******

He tried to walk home; it wasn't easy and took too much effort, as he was so sore from training. Getting hit by Chouji's meat tank wasn't fun; let's just say Ino could be very evil when you didn't expect it.

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A/N-please, bear with me! I promise, It'll get better from here!


	3. Old missions

Part 3-Old missions

He tried to walk home; it wasn't easy and took too much effort, as he was so sore from training. Getting hit by Chouji's meat tank wasn't fun; let's just say Ino could be very evil when you didn't expect it.

He managed to drag himself up a hill to look up at the clouds; his dad normally came past here around now.

As if on cue there was a shout from above him, he opened his eyes and squinted at the blurred frame looking down at him, "you're not…" his eye twitched as he realised who the blurry frame belonged to.

"Shikamaru! Ramen! Now!"

"But it's such a bother…"

"**EVEYTHING'S **a bother to you! Come, now, before they close!" The blonde dragged Shikamaru up by his arm, who had no time to protest before being dragged to the Ichiraku.

"Naruto, just thought I'd let you know that **this** is **really** painful…" Shikamaru struggled to keep up with the ever-energetic Naruto

"It's gonna close in 5 minutes, we need to get there in 4 or less!!!!!" Naruto ran twice as fast as he was before

Shikamaru, somewhere between running and being dragged violently across the ground, managed to spot the ramen stand before being slammed on to a stool.

"One super size pork ramen to go! Shikamaru, pay the man."

"You could at least let me order something for myself," Shikamaru ordered a small beef ramen and paid for them both, "why am I paying for **your** ramen anyway?"

"You owe me for last time."

"That was almost 5 months ago, you still remember that?"

"I never forget ramen," Naruto nodded

"…" Shikamaru sighed, honestly he could still remember it clearly himself; after they had rescued Sasuke and brought him back to the village, much to Sasuke's protests, Naruto had treated him to ramen to congratulate him on completing his first mission as a Chuunin and as a group leader

"Thanks for bringing me on that mission." Naruto traced something on the bar with his finger as he remembered his confrontation with Sasuke

"Thank Godaime-sama, if she hadn't recommended you, I may not have picked you…"

"Tsunde-sama recommended me?"

"Yeah, I'm glad she did too…"

"Oh?" Naruto raised an eyebrow, "why is that?"

"Ah, another story for another time… well honestly I can't be bothered." Shikamaru picked up the bag with both of their ramens in it as they were shooed away so the Ichiraku could close. Shikamaru led Naruto up a hill that was in one of konoha's parks

"Shikamaru, where are we going?" Naruto almost felt like a helpless kid child being led to… something bad… he never was very good at describing things

"Here." Shikamaru put the bag down on the grass; he sat down and beckoned to Naruto to do the same. Naruto immediately sat down and took his ramen out and also handed Shikamaru his, "if you must know, it's because of Sasuke."

"Monkey bastard?" Naruto suddenly stared at Shikamaru, "why?"

"You're probably the only person he would listen to."

"He doesn't listen to me, all he does is mock me for my mistakes…" He stirred the ramen with his chopsticks

"He does, even if you don't believe me," He paused in thought for a second, "there is that big foreheaded girl that Ino's always fighting with… Sakura, I think her name is… he doesn't listen to her, even if he did, her mental state wasn't balanced enough for the mission."

**"HOW DARE YOU INSULT SAKURA-CHAN!!!"**

"Naruto, you're missing the point, yours is the only opinion he values."

"Does he value the fact that I hate him? The fact that I can't forgive him for treating Sakura-chan like that!"

"Woah, Naruto, calm down…"

"You don't understand Shikamaru, she begged him not to go, she poured her heart out to him and he still left, not to mention putting the village in danger by going to see Orochimaru all because he's hell-bent on some stupid revenge mission!"

"Naruto, you're scaring me…" Shikamaru inched away.

Naruto began to laugh, a slightly, insane laugh, to say the least, "you know what's funny? He's becoming like the person he hates the most and he doesn't even see it."

"Naruto…"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to blow off like that"

"Don't worry about it… do you know what really sucked about that mission?"

"No," Naruto raised an eyebrow, "What was it?" He gorged on ramen until Shikamaru gave him an answer

"I always end up fighting the girl." He poked the ramen furiously and finally ate a bit. He put his chopsticks down and was jumped by a stranger; they locked their arms around his neck and refused to let go

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A/N- see? I told you it'd get better…


	4. Idiot

Part 4-Idiot father…

"I always end up fighting the girl." He poked the ramen furiously and finally ate a bit. He put his chopsticks down and was jumped by a stranger; they locked their arms around his neck and refused to let go

"Shika-kun!"

"Ino?" He managed to choke out, "I… can't… breathe…" He attempted to pull her arms away from his neck at which point she did a handstand on his shoulders and flipped over so she landed facing him

"Pretty impressive, no?" She smiled and took his ramen

"No is right, you're just annoying." He tried to take his ramen back, Ino responded by running over to Naruto and proceeded to eat Shikamaru's ramen, "great, another blonde…"

"Blondes are better than brunettes," she reached over and pulled his hair, "ain't that right Naruto?" Naruto responded by nodding with a mouth full of ramen

"Oh? Is that why you like Sasuke?" Shikamaru raised a triumphant eyebrow as Ino stuttered to find an answer

"Well… umm… I have your ramen, so there!" She stuck her tongue out at him

"Huh?" Naruto put down his chopsticks and raised an eyebrow at Ino

"I have ramen," She smiled at him triumphantly

"Oh… whatever…" He picked up his chopsticks and dove back in to his ramen and was soon joined by Ino

"You two have no idea how similar you two are…" 

**"NANI!"** Ino and Naruto shouted at him simultaneously, **"TAKE THAT BACK!"**

"Whatever…" He flopped over onto his back to look up at the clouds; they were now a purple haze-ish colour against a dark blue sky. His line of vision was blocked by blonde hair and blue eyes, "What is it Ino?"

"Thanks for the ramen!" She burped in his face, "oh!" She covered her mouth and laughed, "Excuse me!"

"You never act this manish and weird in front of other people," Shikamaru stood up and sighed, "do you **try** to be this annoying?"

"It's a natural gift." She looked up at the sky, "I should probably head home, mum wants me to help clean up the shop." Ino suddenly turned around and ran off

Naruto and Shikamaru headed their separate ways. As Shikamaru headed home he bumped into his dad, who, for a change, wasn't drunk.

"Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru's eyebrow twitched, "Dad, I'm standing right next to you. You really don't have to shout."

"Ah, gomen, gomen. I saw you with Inoshi's younger daughter earlier… what's her name, Ino?"

"Younger… daughter?"

"Did I say that? I must be mixed up at the moment…" He quickly tried to cover up what he had just said, "you like her don't you?" He nudged his son

"Me like Ino?" He turned red from this unexpected question, "She's like family"

"What kind of family, like a wife?" He nudged Shikamaru again

"Dad, I'm twelve"

"Are you? I could have sworn you were 16…"

"Dad…"

"I thought you were kind of a midget, but you do look like a 16 year old…"

"I don't know how you became one of this village's most valuable Jounin…"

"I'm only joking, I know how old you are…"

"Yeah, yeah…" He reached out to open his door, _what's this feeling? There's killing intent coming from inside…… Mum…_ He moved back a bit, "You go ahead dad." He hoped his dad's minimal intoxication would prevent him from sensing it.

Shikato wrapped his hand around the side of the door; he slid it open cautiously and smiled. "Safe!" She wasn't angry at him for once.

_Three… Two… One…_ Shikamaru counted down the time, when he reached one, a frying pan flew through the air; it hit his father dead centre on his forehead with a loud dong from the frying pan and a sickening crack from Shikato's head. _Man… he has one hard head…_ Shikamaru took one step to the side and watched his father hit the ground where he had previously been standing. It was times like this when he wondered how his father was a Jounin and his mother wasn't. He quickly slipped past his mother, who was now giving his half conscious father a lecture about getting drunk and being late, and went into his room. He looked around and saw a form had been left out on his table. He picked it up and scanned it.

"Blah, blah, blah… Escort to hidden sand village… blah, blah, blah… Assist Sarutobi Asuma… blah, blah, blah… responsibility for team 10… blah, blah, blah… temporary member… blah, blah, blah… Hyuga Ginji… blah, blah… blah?" He stopped and looked back at the name of team 10's temporary member, "Hyuga… Ginji…? I know that name…" He put the form back down on the desk and tried to remember where he had heard that name. As he remembered he froze, "Hyuga Ginji… 14 years of age, a powerful genin. During the 'mini war' at the end of the last Chuunin selection exam, he took out two groups of Sound village Jounins by himself. No remorse for killing, almost enjoys killing his opponents…" He sounded like he was quoting facts from a book, "This guy's joining our team for the Chuunin exam? Damn, I don't think I want to deal with him…" Shikamaru picked up the form again to make sure of the name of the temporary team member, "no wonder they need two higher ranked shinobi for this team…" He rested his head in his hands and sighed, "what a bother…"

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A/N-Yes, I did it, I finally posted chapter 4!


	5. Mission

Part 5-Mission

"Hyuga Ginji… 14 years of age, a powerful genin. During the 'mini war' at the end of the last Chuunin selection exam, he took out two groups of Sound village Jounins by himself. No remorse for killing, almost enjoys killing his opponents…" He sounded like he was quoting facts from a book, "This guy's joining our team for the Chuunin exam? Damn, I don't think I want to deal with him…" Shikamaru picked up the form again to make sure of the name of the temporary team member, "no wonder they need two higher ranked shinobi for this team…" He rested his head in his hands and sighed, "what a bother…"

*******

The three of them stood at the Konoha village gates. An unusually highly ranked mission had been set out for their team, probably due to the current lack of Chuunins and Jounins. They had to infiltrate hidden sound village, it was a well-known fact that Orochimaru was planning on attacking Konoha, but what he was going to do was completely unknown, which was where they came in. Aside from Chouji's baika no jutsu, their team was specialised for infiltration.

"Can we just, not do the mission? It's too much work, they should just wait for a Jounin team to get back…"

"Shikamaru, what happened to the Chuunin who led a team to save Sasuke from Orochimaru's henchmen?"

"I couldn't exactly goof of on a mission like that…"

"This is much more important than that mission, our entire village is at stake!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…"

"Shikamaru, you should be more enthusiastic about missions like this…" Chouji sided with Ino with a mouth full of food

"Hey, why isn't Asuma coming on this mission?"

"He's being sent off on some other mission later…" Chouji opened up a new packet of potato chips

"With… Kurenai," She emphasised the name of the female sensei of team 8, it was a well known fact to teams 8 and 10 and probably others, that Asuma and Kurenai were dating, even though they thought that they were inconspicuous

"… Great…" Shikamaru yawned, "I guess we should go…"

"Geez Shikamaru, you could at least feign some excitement…" Ino put one hand one her hip and poked him in the forehead with the other.

"I could, but that takes too much effort…"

"Shall we…?" Chouji pointed in the rough direction of the hidden sound

"Let's go!" Ino shouted, she ran out of the village, followed lazily by Chouji and Shikamaru

They made their way to the border between the fire and sound country borders. They decided it would be better to make their way in to the country when it was dark.

*******

They made their way into the village from the north, if anyone had seen them coming they wouldn't have expected them to go that way; hopefully they wouldn't have been noticed. They hid their leaf forehead protectors and headed for a weapons shop.

"A lameass and a fatass… You would dare to rear your ugly faces in our village…?"

_I know that voice…_ Shikamaru shot a quick glare at Chouji so that he would contain himself, before turning to face the girl that had snuck up on them "… North gate's Tayuya…"

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A/N-I hope ya'll like ma storeh I know it's short, I'm sorry! R&R plz…. Well R…


	6. Escape

Part 6-Escape

"A lameass and a fatass… You would dare to rear your ugly faces in our village…"

_I know that voice…_ Shikamaru shot a quick glare at Chouji so that he would contain himself, before turning to face the girl that had snuck up on them "… North gate's Tayuya… was it?"

"How do you know?"

"Sasuke had to write a report on what happened, of course all four of your names were revealed…"

"… I'm surprised you reared your ugly faces here, especially the fatass. To tell the truth, I thought he was dead… Orochimaru-sama will be interested to see you three, especially the girl," Tayuya grabbed Ino's arm and began to drag her away, Shikamaru attempted his kagemane ossan to find that it didn't work, "I wouldn't recommend it, you were sprayed with a chakra stopping drug as soon as you entered the village. Any attempt at using your chakra will cause physical and possibly permanent damage, if you plan on living for longer than 24 hours, I'd recommend coming with me." She clicked her fingers and two Jounins bound Chouji and Shikamaru and led them… somewhere…

*******

Shikamaru opened his eyes and looked to his side to see Chouji rocking back and forth with his arms around his legs and his head resting on his knees, he then surveyed the room that they were in, The walls were made of a black stone, probably onyx, and the door was made of steel, or titanium, it looked like it weighed about a ton.

"Chouji…?"

"They took my food…" Chouji grabbed his stomach and curled up in to a ball, "I'm hungry Shikamaru…"

"Get over it…" Shikamaru put a palm on the door and tried to feel the strength of it, "Do you think we can use our chakra yet…?"

"Doubt it…" Chouji collapsed onto his back and sighed, "I don't feel any chakra yet…"

Shikamaru felt around inside the look to see how complicated it was, "The lock's quite simple, it's gonna be hard to crack without any jutsu…"

"You know how to pick locks?"

"One of the few times I was awake in class…" He took a kunai out of his holster and pushed it in to the lock, he wiggled it around until he heard a loud pop, "… the kunai won't go in any further…" Shikamaru sat back down and sighed, there had to be a way to get out of that room

"Shikamaru?"

"Yeah?"

"Where's Ino?"

"I have no idea…" Shikamaru threw himself back down onto the floor. As if she had heard them, a scream reverberated through them and their onyx 'prison'

"Shikamaru," Chouji jumped up and ran over to Shikamaru, "That was-"

"Ino…" Shikamaru racked his brain to figure a way out of their cell; another scream pierced through them and triggered an idea. He searched through the pockets of his jacket and pulled out a scroll.

"Shikamaru, you're not going to…"

"Use the scroll?" Shikamaru undid the seal and opened up the scroll, "it's the only way to save Ino…"

"You heard Tayuya, any attempt at chakra usage could kill you…"

**"THEN WHAT DO YOU SUGGEST!"** Shikamaru flew around to face Chouji; both of them were stunned by his sudden outburst, "Chouji… If I can help you and Ino escape, then I will gladly sacrifice myself to do it, I would prefer only one of us dies rather than all three. Besides, this little shouldn't kill me, at worst… It'll rupture the chakra pathways in my arms and I'll have to quit as a ninja…"

"Best case scenario?"

"The chakra stopping drug has worn out and I'll be fine…"

"Worst case?"

"Worst case scenario…?" Shikamaru bit his thumb and traced it across the scroll; leaving a trail of blood, "It kills me…" He channelled his chakra into the scroll and bit his lip in pain. He shoved the scroll into the lock and dragged Chouji to the farthest corner of the room

"Are you ok?"

"I think I broke my wrist…" Shikamaru held on to his wrist and turned his face away as the lock on the door exploded and flew across the room. The door creaked open, Chouji looked out first with Shikamaru behind him.

"No security… they underestimated us…" Chouji stepped out cautiously

"No…" Shikamaru looked around, "They expected us to escape… more than likely they'd normally expect us to go after Ino, but if they've doe their research they'll know that I've already thought of that and decided to complete the mission first, so we'll surprise them by doing the unexpected…"

"Which is?"

He turned around and looked up at a camera, he then threw a shuriken at the camera and turned back to face Chouji. "We're going to save Ino"

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A/N-This chapter is hot of the press, I haven't even started the next one yet; I just saved this one as soon as I finished it! 


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